Narrow Results

This study provides quantitative assessments of the impacts of efficiency enhancement for different types of irrigation water under water scarcity conditions. It employs a single country CGE (STAGE 2) model calibrated to an extended version of a recently constructed SAM for Egypt 2008/09. The SAM segments the agricultural accounts by season and by irrigation scheme, including Nile- and groundwater-dependent as well as rain-fed agricultural activities. The simulations show that Egypt should manage potential reductions in the supply of Nile water with more efficient irrigation practices which increase the productivity of Nile water, groundwater and irrigated land. The results suggest a more ambitious plan to boost irrigation efficiency for summer rice would be desirable in order to outweigh any potential shrinkage in output and exports. Furthermore, even doubling all non-conventional water resources is not sufficient to compensate the potential adverse impacts of Nile water losses. This highlights the importance of irrigation efficiency for the Egyptian economy.